TAMPA, Fla. -
The Georgetown track & field team is in Tampa, Fla., for the 2012 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held at the USF Track & Field Stadium on the campus of the University of South Florida. The Hoyas have nearly 40 student-athletes competing in 22 events, tentatively.

Changing from past years, the format has changed from a two-day format to a three-day event starting with the men's and women's steeplechase on Friday night as well as the men's and women's 10,000-meter run.

The Hoyas will look to 10-time All-American and NCAA Champion Emily Infeld (University Heights, Ohio/Beaumont) to make a push at this year's conference championships. Infeld entered three events, winning all three, at the conference indoor championships in February and became a six-time BIG EAST champion. The senior, in just her third season of eligibility in outdoor, has started the outdoor season well, running in her first 5,000-meter run at the Mt. SAC Relays. Last weekend, she anchored the second-place Georgetown 4x1,500-meter relay team at Penn Relays. Her time of 4:20.0 was the second-fastest anchor split in the race and was enough to edge out Villanova's anchor on the final straightaway as Infeld took the outside and pushed past her over the final meters.

Infeld will compete in the women's 1,500-meter run and is on the list of those who will possibly compete in the women's 4x800-meter relay. Also competing in the women's 1,500 is All-American Madeline Chambers (Rocky River, Ohio/Magnificat), Katrina Coogan (Exeter, N.H./Phillips Exeter Academy), Annamarie Maag (Lake Oswego, Ore./Jesuit) and Kelsey Smith (Exeter, N.H./Exeter).

In the shorter distances, the Hoyas will look to the likes of sprint specialists All-American Amanda Kimbers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) and Tenille Stoudenmire (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) who are both entered in the 100- and 200-meter dash.

London Finley (Los Angeles, Calif./St. Mary's Academy) has had a stellar senior season, setting a new record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Larry Ellis Invitational earlier this season. The Hoyas will look to her expertise to pick up points in her event. Finley, Cox, Kimbers and Stoudenmire will be looked upon for the women's 4x400-meter relay.

All-American Emily Jones (Harvard, Mass./Bromfield) will be pulling double duty in the women's distance events, competing in tonight's 10,000-meter run and then in Saturday's 5,000. While Jones will be the lone Hoya on the track during the 10,000, she will be joined by Jenna Davidner (South Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames), Kirsten Kasper (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) and Joanna Stevens (Blacksburg, Va./Blacksburg) in the 5,000 on Saturday. Also competing on Friday night will be Meaghan Gregory (Burnt Hills, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

On the men's side, the young team will look to its veteran athletes in the distance events to make a splash first. In Friday night's 10,000-meter race, Mark Dennin (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyerstown), Ben Furcht (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion), Collin Leibold (Falls Church, Va./Gonzaga) and T.C. Lumbar (Edina, Minn./Edina) will be competing, looking for some early points in the final event. Dennin and Lumbar will also be competing in Saturday's 5,000 along with Alex Lundy (Littleton, Colo./Heritage/Maryland) and Ayalew Taye (Portland, Maine/Cushing Academy).

Also competing on Friday night will be Dylan Sorensen (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville) and Matt Howard (Blacksburg, Va./Blacksburg) in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The Blue & Gray will look to have success in the men's 1,500-meter run with Omar Kaddurah (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc), Bobby Peavey (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam), Michael Reher (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius College Prep), Miles Schoedler (Ocean View, N.J./Ocean City) and Andrew Springer (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) competing in the event. Springer is having a very successful year with strong performances at the indoor championships as well as a great mile split last weekend in the men's 4xmile Championship of America at Penn Relays where the Hoyas finished sixth.

While the men's competition has traditionally had more depth in the 800-meter run, the Hoyas will solely be relying on Brian Manning (Portland, Ore./Jesuit) while looking to the shorter distances for depth and multiple entrants in the finals of events.

Toby Ulm (Marlborough, United Kingdom/St. John's School & Community College) and Hansel Akers (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) will compete in the 400-meter hurdles while Kevin Wilson (Virginia Beach, Va./Landsview/George Mason) and Austin Perron (Philadelphia, Pa./High School of Engineering & Science) will run the 400-meter dash.